September 09, 2013

Remembering 9/11 ~ the other one

September 11th is a day to remember. It was the day the US overthrew a democratically elected government in Chile in 1973.

Salvador Allende had led a ramshackle group of leftist parties to victory three years earlier in 1970. There was no dispute about the election, it was fair in every way. The rich landowners and business people were less than enthusiastic. Nor was the White House of Richard Nixon.

The US led a vicious campaign of disinformation against Allende from the day of his election, pouring millions of dollars into the effort. Ultimately the CIA and the Chilean military conspired to conduct a coup against the Chilean presidency. Allende was killed and over the next few weeks and months and years, thousands more were killed or disappeared. The junta lasted seventeen years.